Washington urged the UN Security Council on Monday to support a ceasefire plan between Israel and Hamas, which would free all hostages and send massive amounts of aid into Gaza.
The three-part proposal aimed at ending the nearly eight-month war was announced by US President Joe Biden on 31 May. Now he is trying to drum up support at the international organisation.
“Numerous leaders and governments, including in the region, have endorsed this plan and we call on the Security Council to join them in calling for implementation of this deal without delay and without further conditions,” said US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield in a statement.
Biden has called on Hamas to accept the deal “fully and implement its terms without delay and without condition.” The Palestinian militant group has said it views the proposal “positively.”
The draft resolution shown to the UN Security Council makes no mention of Israeli acceptance of the deal.
Details of the ceasefire plan
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his hardline governing partners on Monday the proposal would still allow Israel to meet the goal of destroying Hamas, according to local media.
Ultranationalists have threatened to topple his government if Netanyahu agrees to a deal that doesn’t eliminate Hamas.
Netanyahu has not outlined all the details of the ceasefire proposal, but said on Monday there were “gaps”.
Biden said the first phase of the plan would last for six weeks and include a “full and complete ceasefire,” a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza and the release of some hostages, including women, the elderly and the wounded, in exchange for the freeing of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
US hostages would be released at this stage, with the remains of hostages who have been killed returned to their families also. There would be a surge in humanitarian assistance, with 600 trucks a day entering Gaza.
In the second phase, all the rest of the living hostages would be released, including soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza.
Biden said if Hamas lives up to its commitments, the temporary ceasefire would become a “cessation of hostilities permanently.”
The third phase of the plan announced by the US leader calls for the start of a major reconstruction of Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding from devastation caused by the war.
The war has damaged or destroyed approximately 62 percent of all homes in the Palestinian enclave, leaving more than a million people without homes, according to estimates by the World Bank and UN.
About 250 people, mainly Israeli civilians, were take hostage in Hamas’ surprise 7 October attack on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people.
More than 100 were freed in a short truce in late November and early December. Israel says about 80 hostages are believed to still be captive, alongside the remains of about 43 others.
Israeli bombardments and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Most of the casulaties have been women and children.
Euronews
